Does The FCC Know Cellular 911 Breaks?
from the i've-fallen-and-i-can't-get-up dept
During a snowstorm a couple weeks ago, Massachusetts' enhanced 911 system that takes calls from mobile phones broke down, leaving people on cell phones unable to reach the authorities and emergency services, apparently due to a fault in the Verizon system that routes calls. Now, Jeff Pulver's wondering if -- in light of its overreaction to some isolated incidents involving VoIP and 911 -- the FCC realizes that sometimes wireless 911 fails, too. Following the incidents with VoIP 911, the FCC gave providers 120 days to implement E911, while they've let mobile operators drag the process out for years. Of course, given the way the FCC enforces deadlines, all this just reinforces the idea that the FCC reacted rashly to the VoIP E911 issue.
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911 breaks, nothing new
It's a fallible system, and there's no getting around it.
That said, I think all telephone services NEED to comply with (attempted) 100% 911 accessibility. Some VOIP providers have clearly been unable/unwilling/disinterested in achieving this and I think the FCC is fully justified in riding them.
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Re: 911 breaks, nothing new
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Comcast is ok
Wether it works or not is another question entirely.
Hopefully I'll never find out either way.
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